Manually-operable control unit



April 27 1926. 1,582,378

, A. (,7. BRUECKMANN A MANUALLY OPERABLE CONTROL UNIT '2' Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 22, 1925 April 2? 1,582,378

A. C. BRUECKMANN.

MAHUALLY OPERABLE CONTROL UNIT Filed July 22, 1925 2 She-Sheet 2 A C. B/weckmnzp.

Patented A r; 27, 1926.

ADOLPH o. BnUEoKMAnN, or BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

MANUALLY-OPER-ABLE CONTROL UNIT.

Application filed July e2, 1925. Serial No. 45,361.

. To all wi'zo-mit may concern:

Be it known that I, ADOLPH C. BRUnoK- MANN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore city, I have invented certain new and useful Improvements in lilanually-Operable Control Units, of which the following is a specification. I v

This invention relates to in'lprovements in mechanical. control systems of the general type disclosed "in my co-pending application, Serial No. 676,445, filed November 22, 1923, and the general object of thepresent invention is to provi'da'a novel construction of manually operable control unit for employment in such a system to effect actuation of the alarm unit of the system.

Inthe said co-pending application, the manually operable control unit embodies a pulley to andaboutwhich wires are connected and wound, and a manually operable crank handle for rotating the pulley so as to exert a pull upon the wires to effect 7 operation of the alarm unit of 'thesystem,

and-the present invention has as-its object to provide means for exerting a more direct pull upon the wires which-lead to the alarm unit and to materially simplify the construction of the manually operable unit as a whole.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a View in front elevation, of the manually operable control unit embodying the invention,thecasing in which the mechanism is housed being shown in section.

Figure 2 is a vertical front to rear sectional view throiilgh the control unit taken substantially on the line 22 of Figure 1,

looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of one of the rack supporting plates of the unit.

In the drawings, the mechanism comprising the control unit is illustrated as mounted in a casing indicated in general by the name *al 1 and comprising a back 2, wall 3, a bottom wall 4, and side walls 5. A front 6 is secured to the otherwise open front of the body of the casing and comprises a frame in which is hingedly mounted, as at 7, a door which is indicated by the numeral 8, and is provided in its upper side with a socket or opening 9 to accommodate a rounded latch bolt 10 mounted in a suitable latch casing 11 upon the front of tate of Maryland,

a top the said frame, thcdoor 8. being likewise provided at itsupper side with a linger knob 12 by means of which it may be conveniently grasped and swung downwardly to open r position about its hinges 7, so that access may be had to the interior of the easing to actuate the control mechanism;

The numeral 13 indicates a bracket plate which is of substantially the rectangularform illustrated in Figure 10f the drawings, and which is secured, near its cornersiby'means of bolts let, to the inner face of the back 2 of the casing in position extending substantially horizontally atthe transverse middle oft-he casing back. A stub shaft 15, is lined at its rear end to the central portion of the bracket plate 13, and a gear 16. is rotatably mounted upon the said stub shaft and is provided with a projecting hub portion 17 to which is fitted the hubportion 18 of a crank handle indicated by the numeral 19, the said crank handle being provided with a hand grip 20 whereby it may be rotated to impart rotary motion to the gear 16. The end of the shaft 15 is reduced andthreaded as at 21, and a nut 22 is threaded thereon and serves toprevent displacement of gear 16 and its hub extension 17. The hub portion 18 of the crank handle may be .securedupon the hub extension 17 by means of a set screw 23. Guides 2 1 are arranged above and below the gear 16 and supported by't-he bracket plate 13, and each of these guides comprises a pair of bars 25 held in place by screws 26 fitted therethrough at intervals in their length and threaded into the said plate 13, the screws passing through spacing sleeves 27 which serve to maintain the guide bars 25 in the same parallel relation to each other. Rack bars 28 are slidably disposed between the bars 25 of the respective guides and the toothed sides of the rack bars, indicated by the numeral 2), are presented toward each other and mesh with the gear 16 at opposite sides thereof, so that when the gear is rotatcd in either direction, the rack'bars will be shifted in opposite directions with relation to each other. Anti-friction rollers 30 are arranged between the guide bars 25 of each pair and are provided with trunnions 31 journaled in openings in the said bars, and the sides of the respective rack bars 28 opposite their toothed sides ride against these rollers so that the bars are steadied and guided in their-movement and minimum resistance is offered to their movement when the gear 16 is rotated. The bracket plate 13 is provided at its ends with outstanding flanges in which are anchored the ends of the sheaths 83 of Bowden wires 84 which are connected to the relative adjacent ends of the respective rack bars 28.

A bracket plate 35, corresponding to the plate 13, is secured by bolts 36 to the back 2 of the casing 1 and spaced with relation thereto and in a plane in advance of the torward guide bars 535, by means oil: spacing sleeves 3? arranged upon said bolts. Guides 38, corresponding to the guides 21 are mounted upon the bracket plate 35, and rack bars 39 are slidably mounted in the said guides and mesh with opposite sides of the gear 10. Bowden wires -10 are connected to the ends (it the racir bars 39 and extend through sheaths t]. anchored in flanges provided at the ends of the said plate and corresponding to the flanges 32 upon the plate 13. It will be observed. by reterence to the drawings that the plate is vertically disgosee so that the rack bars 28 are at a right angle to the rack bars 39. It will also be observed by reference to the drawings, that the plate 35 is formed wit-h a centrally located opening 43 to accommodate the gear 16.

Thesheaths for the Bowden wires are extended through the side walls and the top and bottom walls of the casing l and are led to an alarm unit which constitutes a part of the control system as a whole and as disclosed in my said co-pending application, and, it will be understood that when the gear 16 is rotated in one direction, the respect-ive pairs of rack bars will be oppositely shifted so that corresponding wires will be similarly shifted to actuate the alarm unit and, when the gear is rotated in the opposite direction, the wires will be so shifted as to reset the alarm unit.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

1.111 a control mechanism, a casing, a support therein, a gear mounted on said support to rotate about a fixed axis, pairs of rack bars in dillerent planes and meshing with the said gear, the rack bars 0t each pair within the casing and extending at right angles with respect to each other, a pair of rack bars shdably supported upon each of the said plates, a gear mounted for rotation between the rack bars and in mesh with all of said bars, means for rotating the gear, and flexible motion transmitting elements connected with the rack bar to be actuated thereby when the gear is rotated.

In testimony whereof I allix my signature. ADOLPH C. BRUECKMANN. [n s.] 

